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More live event qualifiers?
Hi all, does anyone think Sky poker should do more satellites for live events?
Having had a great time at the SPT events, DTD and recently the fantastic PUNTA CANA BEAT IT !
I would love more chance to enter big live events via sats, knowing Sky could not send a team out every
time, even just puting up seat only for WPT , UKIPT Irish open etc, once every few month .
The winner could have a little extra towards hotel or flight, in exchange for a Sky tee shirt / hoodie
to be worn at the event .
I shall be wearing my Sky Hoodie with pride,at any main live events i attend , main next one is Irish Open
end of March Dublin .
Once again a big Thank You to Sky Poker , Tikay , Justin and all the players/ friends we met in Punta Cana
....best live event ever...without cashing .
Comments
No need for Sky to send reps for a UK/Ireland promotion-I'm sure many of us would be pleased to promote Sky Poker in this way.
Matt , when playing these live events many players are wearing logos promoting other poker sites, and iPoker
and other do run satellites to competitors events .
The Punta Cana Classic is a good example , or as Gary says get the SPT running again .
Give a little extra , no need for reps to go, and players promote Sky while at the event.
The games they have done in the past have proved very popular .
hi Stokey, this time next year could be your turn, lets hope so !
I thought I'd await a few other views before chiming in. I'll spend 20 minute or so now replying to some of the comments.
I thought you won a few of those Punta Cana SNG's? Not as many as Mrs Glencoe, obv.....
Firstly, a big up to Matt Bates, who might just be after my job. His replies were splendidly accurate & on-Message, I could barely have improved on any of them.
Nail, head, & all that.
"No need (for Sky Poker) to send reps" which was posted by one elderly sort.
Of all the packages Sky Poker have ever run - SPUKT, SPT, UKPC, Viva Las Vegas & Punta Cana - Sky Poker have always sent "hosts", with one exception, being the first Punta Cana Adventure. That was a mistake which was realised afterwards.
Sky Poker strongly believe that our players on these packages deserve looking after properly, with some organised stuff, Welcome or Goodbye Dinners, outings & that sort of stuff. I don't believe that view will ever change.
We must also recognize that part of the "value" to The business of these packages is that Sky Poker Blog, Update & take a lot of photographs at the events. These all add value, via SEO.
It's not a big deal, but it's very important. In Las Vegas this year, Sky Poker supported the players with Neil Channing, Mark Waterhouse, Prio Liz, Sky Poker TV Dan, & 1 or 2 others. And all were needed.
Sky Poker cannot & don't wish to run qualifiers to Tours/Events by the likes of Grosvenor, Paddy Power, Party Poker etc.
First up, they'd need a licence, & I doubt any of them would be interested in giving Sky Poker that licence. Why would they? - they want to drive qualifying traffic to their site. (Though in mot cases except PP & 'Stars "their site" is a Network & unlike Sky Poker they share it with many others).
We were allowed to run qualifiers for the UKPC, as part of a deal, but increasingly, DTD became plastered with PP branding, floors, walls, ceiling, inside, outside, even loo rolls, so it started to become a bit awkward.
Worth noting that Party Poker is a much bigger site than Sky Poker, as it is global. However, in the UK it is much smaller than Sky Poker. So Sky Poker don't really want to drive traffic to Party.
Sky Poker don't really want to send players to "competitor sites" either. When "our" players register for that Event, the Promoters insist on our players giving their e-Mail address. And why? So they can spam our player with their Promos & try to tempt them to jump ship. Why would Sky Poker want to expose their players to that? Makes no sense at all.
What do Sky Poker deem to be a "competitor site"?
We need to wear SB&G shoes here. SB&G is an integrated platform which offers Bet, Vegas (online Slots), Casino, & Bingo. (Ignore for now Oddschecker, SportingLife.com etc).
So it's "competitor sites" are those UK & Ireland facing sites which offer similar - Paddy Power, BetFair, 365, Wm Hill, Ladbrokes, etc etc. There's no way Sky Poker would effectively drive traffic to those sites.
UKIPS is a 'Stars Tour. If you google "UKIPT Winners" you wont see anyone wearing a "patch" unless it is 'Stars patch, as they don't (generally) permit it. As such, 'Stars is not deemed to be a "competitor site", it is chalk & cheese & offers different stuff really.
So their options are limited, & there are very few UK venues/Tours/Events that fit the criteria. In fact there are barely a handful of Licensed UK Card rooms that are not affiliated with an Online Poker Site (Aspers may be the sole one of any size - more on which later).
"2 live events per year is paltry"
This was from CxE1, who says he rarely posts here - which is a great shame, as his Posts are always most welcome.
I'm not sure I'd agree that is "paltry".
For Viva Las Vegas this year, we sent 5 @ £10,000 & 40 @ £3,000, if my memory is correct. That's £170,000, & for a site of this size, it needs 3 months to qualify that many. For Punta Cana we sent 25 @ £3,500, so that's another near £90,000. So over quarter of a milly in total. I'd say for a site the size of Sky Poker, they re punching well above their weight.
How many did Party, Paddy, Ladbrokes, Grosvenor etc send to the WSOP?
Sometimes less is more.
However.....(more follows).
Wanna job?
So will there be any more, or other "Live Events" with Sky Poker?
I've no idea, but I am party to their thinking on this, & they ARE trying to organise Live Events.
Around a year ago I was tasked to see if we could get a few SPT's organised. Just 1 or 2 per year. We got very close to agreeing to do it, but an obstacle arose, & it got put back down the list.
Much more recently - in September & October in fact - I was tasked with helping to find an Event for early Spring. I submitted a lengthy Report, & there was not a suitable UK venue, none that was acceptable. My report included 14 chains or Casinos in England, Wales & Ireland. Note that in Northern Ireland & the RoI, Live Poker is "un-regulated" & Sky Poker have some discomfort around that.
So we looked overseas, & specifically at Dublin, Cork, Helsinki, Barcelona, Vienna, & a few others. Holland, which was mentioned earlier in the thread, (Master Classics etc) was not included as it has Compliance & Regulatory obstacles, but we are pushing back on those.
The idea was to do this in Jan, or early Feb latest, but I think we are out of time now. Any later is no good, as (I hope, fingers crossed) they will need to be qualifying for Viva Las Vegas by then anyway. After I submitted the Report, I got a bit busy with Punta Cana & UKOPS, so it sort of went off my radar, so I actually don't know what was decided.
So there it I - I hope that helps explain that it is not quite as simple as some of us may think.
If I had to bet on whether they would do a Live Event in the next year (excluding Viva Las Vegas & Punta Cana) I'd have a small wager on "yes", assuming the price was right. I'd take 5/4 I think.
One positive is that the thread demonstrates that the Live Packages Sky Poker DO run are done really well. I'd confidently say they do them better than any other site. So no wonder players hanker for more.
Sky's rivals are looking to partner with casinos-Sky should be doing the same. As an example, Aspers Stratford has (1) a short-term arrangement with 888; and (2) a "Sky bar"-what's not to like?